A Crack in the Schism
by carlgluftgmail.com
Summary: Returning a young soldier to Gallifrey, the War Doctor finds his home planet in a state of crisis amidst the greatest war Time and Space had ever known.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

From the console of his time capsule, the bearded, old man in the worn leather coat stared at the young soldier leaning against a corral-like column. Though dressed in her red Time Lord armor, with her helmet off, her long, blonde hair made her look like a little girl. No more than an adolescent in Gallifreyan terms, the thought of this young girl fighting in the worst war the Time-space Continuum has every seen appalled the old man.

"We'll be materializing soon," said the old man as he pulled a notebook from the pocket of his double breasted waistcoat. Scribbling upon it, he tore off the page and handed to the young soldier. "Take this to the medical center. It's a prescription for extended rest and recreation. You also need to have a complete physical. There is no telling what the Daleks may have done to you draining your artron energy. You should have received all of it back when I opened the Dalek Eye of Harmony. Still, you need to be checked out, and by no means return to the front lines anytime soon. No one should question this prescription. After all, I used to be a Doctor...a long time ago."

"Please, don't get cross with me, sir," said the soldier softly, "but as far as I'm concerned, you still are the Doctor. You saved me, didn't you?"

"I've failed to save so many others though," said the Doctor with a tear in his eye.

The Ship suddenly shook violently. The sound of a bell tolled from beyond the door to the inner corridors.

"Look!" Cried the soldier, her eyes wide in terror as one of the control panels on the six-sided console began to lift up.

"Out of the way!" Shouted the Doctor as he pushed her away. The soldier fell prone on the deck, amazed at the old man's strength.

A brilliant light shined forth from the open panel. The Doctor desperately tried to pull it closed.

"What's happening?" Asked the soldier as she clung desperately to the roundels in the wall she landed against.

"The Heart of the TARDIS is opening!" The Doctor shouted over the tolling bell. "The energy of the entire Time Vortex is pouring out!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

With the panel fully open, the brilliant light hit the Doctor's face. With a cry, he let go of the panel, and grasped at his eyes. Instantly, the panel slammed shut, and the bell feel silent.

"Are you alright, sir," asked the soldier as she scrambled to her feet and ran to his side.

"I don't know," said the Doctor as he removed his hands from his eyes. For an instant they glowed with the same light as that which came forth from the TARDIS console. Then they faded back to normal. "I can see now."

"Your eyes, sir! They were glowing."

'I must have absorbed some of the energy from the Time Vortex. It was only a brief instant, thank God, or else it would have killed me. The TARDIS has never done that before. We're materializing."

The Doctor hit a key on the panel, and the flatscreen monitor mounted on the console came to life. The TARDIS had materialized in a valley. Great red mountains could be seen in the distance, and the flickering of torches could be seen not far away.

"This isn't the Citadel," said the soldier.

"It most certainly isn't," said the Doctor as he pulled the lever that opened the outside door. "Shall we take a look around?"

The Doctor and the soldier exited the old, beat up police box which was the TARDIS' exterior shell. The Doctor took a deep breath, and looked down at the torches in the depths of the valley, and then up towards the twin suns in the sky. Pointing at a nearby ridge, he said, "The Citadel is that way. You should get going."

As the Doctor began to descend the valley, the soldier ran after him, saying, "Wherever you are going, I'm going, too."

"You don't need to go down here. Your a soldier. You never had to face this. No one should have to face it."

"Face what?"

"The Untempered Schism. I didn't think I could make the selection for the Academy. But one night, sleeping in a barn, I was given the courage to face it. I was given the courage to face anything. At eight years old I looked into the Untempered Schism. It's a tear in time and space. In the raw space time I saw...I saw… Well it's not important.'

"The important thing is is that you had the courage to face whatever you saw. Right, sir?"

"Hardly!" Laughed the Doctor as he and the soldier navigated through rows of tall, everburning torches imbedded in the grounds. "I ran, and I never stopped running. Sometimes, the most courageous thing you can do is run."

Beyond the torches was a great, circular frame mounted vertically in the valley. The gilded portal was breathtakingly beautiful, or would have been if it wasn't cracked and broken.

The Doctor's face was snow white. Every line on his face stood out in his paleness. His eyes were wet with the coming of tears. He seemed to sway a bit, as if to faint. "This is the time for you to be courageous. This is the time for you to run."

"I can't leave you like this," said the soldier as she approached him. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Listen to me! You have to get to the Citadel. You have to warn the High Council. The Untempered Schism is broken. Gallifrey is in danger. Now, run, soldier!"

Without a moment's hesitation, the soldier ran for the mountains.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The shadows of the crimson mountains cast the valley into a deep twilight. The Doctor was walking around the perimeter of the Schism's ceremonial grounds when his keen eyes caught a glimpse of something.

"A cave," he said to himself as he looked into it. The light of several everburning torches revealed a room beyond. "A sacristy, of course. They'd have to have some place to keep all of those stuffy, old robes."

As the Doctor entered, he found himself in a tastefully paneled room. Several robes and high collars were hung upon a wall, and a door next to a wooden desk led deeper into the cave. As he looked into the next room, he gasped in horror. A dome topped, conical form stood amidst rows of robes. It's bottom half was covered in small globes. A plunger tipped arm and gunstalk protruded from its middle section, and atop the dome was a mechanical eyestalk.

"Daleks!" Hissed the Doctor. Realizing he hadn't been exterminated by his old enemy, the Doctor took a step forward. "Image that! One of the self proclaimed masters of the universe caught in a simple anti theft status field. The Time Lords don't take lightly to those wishing to steal their pretty robes."

The Doctor pulled a metal cylinder from a bandolier beneath his coat. Twisting a red dial on its base, he raised it towards the Dalek. With an electronic whine the tip glowed red, and instantly the Dalek came to life.

"You are an enemy of the Daleks!" Screamed the metallic horror as it swung its gunstalk at him. "You must be exterminated!"

"I just freed you," countered the Doctor with a smile. "You could at least tell me your evil plan before exterminating me. How did you get on Gallifrey? There is no way you could have gotten past the Transduction Barrier and the Sky Trenches."

"I was a scout, sent on a mission to arrive on Gallifrey through a tiny space time rift discovered on the planet's surface."

"That rift was one of the most important temporal anomalies in the Universe. It's what made us Time Lords to begin with. And you damn well destroyed it!"

"We were victorious!"

"If getting caught in a trap left for a petty thief can be considered victorious?"

"The portal was destroyed, but the tear in spacer time remains. The Dalek forces shall follow the path I took. They will arrive inforce on Gallifrey. The planet of the Time Lords shall burn, and all of them with it!"

"We will see about that, Dalek."

"Now, it is time to exterminate you."

"I'd like to see you try! This sacristy is in a state of temporal grace. No weapons will function here."

"Exterminate!" Cried the Dalek as a beam of white hot plasma shot forth from its gunstalk.

The Doctor dove for cover. "Apparently, this sacristy is about as reliable as my TARDIS."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Doctor was cornered. There was no way the Dalek's next shot could possibly miss. But something burned deep within him. The old warrior could feel it rise up within him. His whole being began to burn. Light streamed forth from his eyes and mouth and incinerated the Dalek on the spot.

"Vortex energy!" Gasped the Doctor as he caught himself from falling over. "That'll cost me a few centuries on this old body. But at least that should be the end of it. "

The Doctor coughed, and a few wisps of Vortex energy came forth. "Or, perhaps not. I must have enough left in me to… of course! That's it!"

The Doctor, beaming with joy, rummaged through a desk until he found a small metal disk. Placing it on the desk, he tapped it, and a hologram of a young woman in red Time Lord armor appeared.

"Gallifrey High Command," she said.

"Listen carefully, " said the Doctor. "The Untempered Schism is damaged. The Daleks have ruptured it, and with the control ring compromised, they intend to use it to bypass the Transduction Barrier and Sky Trenches, and invade Gallifrey. Their scout is the pile of smoking slag behind me, by the way. But that won't hold off their expeditionary force. We need to repair the Schism now!"

"Sir," said the soldier, "the High Command had already determined that the repair of the Untempered Schism is beyond the scope…"

"Well, they're wrong! I need a team of technicians with supplies that can repair the control ring down here now."

"Repair of the ring isn't the issue, sir. The energy needed to reestablish…"

"You tell that boneheaded General to get me some top technicians down here. I'll take care of the rest."

"Sir, I can not guarantee..," the soldier trailed off as her glance veered to her side. "Correction, sir. By order of the High Council, a Bowship is being sent as we speak."

"Well, apparently someone has some sense still, " said the Doctor abruptly switching off the communicator.

No sooner had he stepped out of the sacristy, the broad, swept wing shape of a Bowship flew overhead, circled back around, and landed. A ramp lowered, and armored soldiers piled out.

"No, no, no!" Cried the Doctor. "I asked for technicians not soldiers. I need scientists!"

"We could only spare one, " said a lovely, blonde woman in the red robes of a Time Lord. The lines of centuries could be seen about her eyes, but she still possessed the same regal beauty that she had when she chose that face so long ago.

"Romana!" Cried the Doctor.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Gastron, " said Romana to the young pilot of the bow ship, "get those technicians working on the ring according to Rassilon's specifications."

"Yes, milady," replied the pilot.

"Rassilon!" Spat the Doctor.

"Now, now, Doctor. He's the one who built it. He knows better than any other on Gallifrey how to repair it."

"I doubt that very much! If he really did build all these artifacts, then why are we losing the war?"

"We're not losing…"

"Romana, the Daleks are going to use that ruptured Schism as a beachhead to destroy Gallifrey once and for all. We've already lost unless we can repair it."

"We can patch the ring itself up, but how can we reactivate it? The Eye of Harmony is strapped to its limits supplying power to our countless fleets. Where are we going to get enough temporal energy to reactivate the Schism, Doctor?"

"Don't call me that. "

"Well, what am I supposed to call you?"

"If we fail to restore the Schism, you won't need to call me anything. Now, tell me something important! How's that young soldier I brought back from Skaro?"

Romana chuckled and beamed a great smile at the old man. "You see? You are the Doctor. Who else in all of existence would worry about one injured girl on a doomed world? If we're all going to die, what difference would it make…"

"How is she?" Demanded the old warrior with such intensity that the former Lady President of the Time Lords took a step back in fright.

"She'll recover, " replied Romana in a small voice, clearly shaken by his outburst. "She suffered extensive artron trauma from the Daleks, but we have our top people on it. We'll save her. But how will you save us? "

"Just get your men on those repairs. We haven't much time."

"And what will you be doing, Doc… old friend?"

"I'll be in the sacristy, praying for a miracle."

"Seriously?" Asked Romana.

A few hours later, Romana entered to sacristy. To Romana's surprise, the Doctor was sitting in a lotus asana on the floor, eyes closed, still as a corpse.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Slowly, the Doctor opened his sad eyes and looked up at her.

"The ring is repaired, " she said. "Now what?"

To her shock, the old warrior smiled. It was a very Doctorish smile, she thought, full of playfulness and mystery.

"It's time for that miracle," he said as he rose to his feet. "I need you to promise me something. Romana. A final favour for an old friend. "

"Final?"

"There is a good chance what I'm about to do will burn me out. No more Doctor or Warrior. So, one last favour, please?"

"What is it?"

"Promise me that the girl I rescued will never see combat again. No matter how badly this war should turn, I don't want her ever to be on the front lines again. "

"I'm not the President anymore…"

"Promise me!"

"Alright! I promise. But what are you going to do?"

The Doctor turned to leave.

"What are you going to do. Doctor?"

"Don't call me that!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The Doctor stood before the great ring of the Untempered Schism. Romana stood a few paces behind him. Behind her, Gastron and his men were lined up, staser rifles ready.

"Put your guns away, " snapped the Doctor. "There's an entire Dalek fleet ready to come through. Do you really think you can fend them off with your stasers? Guns make ignorant warriors."

With a nod from Romana, Gaston ordered his men to lower their weapons.

The Doctor took a deep breath. Whisps of light like smoke began to issue from his mouth and eyes.

"Doctor, " gasped Romana, "what are you doing? You can't! It'll destroy you. Not even Rassilon could channel the energy of the Time Vortex."

"To hell with Rassilon!" Cried the Doctor as furious beams of blinding light shot forth from him hitting the Untempered Schism. The light slowly grew dimmer and the assembled Time Lords could see the twisting miasma of the Time Vortex.

As the light died away, the Doctor collapsed upon the red grass of the valley. Romana rushed to his side, but Gastron shouted, "Look, milady!"

Images of countless saucer-shaped vessels filled the view of the Schism. "It's the Dalek fleet. "

The deep, croaking voice of the Emperor Dalek filled the valley. "Well done, Time Lords. You have opened the Schism. The Dalek fleet shall exterminate your pitiful species, then we shall take our rightful place as Lords of All Time and Space.

"It was a trap," gasped the Doctor as he grabbed Romana's arm. "How could I be so stupid? I didn't seal them out with the Schism, I I opened wide the gates for their invasion!"

The saucers loomed closer to the Schism. Their image began to twist like an image in a house of mirrors.

"They're entering the event horizon of the Schism, " said Romana.

"Shall I call for reinforcements?" Asked Gastron.

"We don't have anything on Gallifrey to stop them in time. Gallifrey is lost. "


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Feebly, the Doctor rose to his feet.

"I don't know how you're still alive, " said Romana. "But we won't be for long. "

"I didn't absorb the entire Vortex, Romana," said the Doctor. "Before we materialized on Gallifrey, the console opened briefly. The TARDIS must have foreseen the Dalek fleet in the Vortex and the state of the Schism. She gave me just enough Vortex energy to accomplish what needed to be done. "

"We've less than a micro-span before they come through, milady," said Gastron.

"All the time I need, " said the Doctor as he drew a deep breath. He lurched forward and breathed forth a great torrent of vortex energy. It filled the Untempered Schism with a blinding light. When the brilliant glow had faded away, the Dalek ships were gone, and the Doctor was again on the ground.

"The Doctor of War, is he dead?" Asked Gastron.

"He's still breathing," said Romana. The soldiers let our a great cheer. The Daleks were again defeated, and their hero still alive.

The Doctor awoke a few days later in a convalescent ward in the Citadel. When his eyes beheld the golden haired nurse above him he thought her to be an angel. Then he recognized her.

"Soldier?" He asked.

"Soldier no more, " she said with a smile.

"Nurse?"

"Doctor, actually. Well, soon at least. Probably not in time for the Skull Moon offensive."

"Skull Moon? What offensive? For God sake, Rassilon can't seriously be planning an offensive there. It'll be a massacre! I've got to go."

"You haven't been released yet."

"I'm releasing myself."

"You can't do that. You're not a Doctor anymore, remember?"

"No, but you will be soon. Be a Doctor, my dear. Be a good one. I think the universe may still need one after all."

With a brief kiss on her cheek, the old warrior was off to find his TARDIS and continue his fight.

The End.


End file.
